A Complete Guide on Assembling a Gaming PC

This post is gonna be too interesting for gamers like me. I was a hardcore gamer and also assembled few PC’s so I thought I could help out some of the people who are going to assemble one or just upgrade it.

We will starts from basic to the top. I will also describe what this thing does and will also describe some additional information with it.

Lets start.

Introduction:

Gaming PCs are generally assembled so that they deliver maximum performance while gaming. A guy does not wants to get stuck on 5-6 fps (Frames Per Second) while playing GTA IV. Well too embarrassing. It needs the correct configuration. By correct configuration I mean that  we don’t place a Nvidia 7300 with Intel Core i7. In this configuration the processor’s power will go waste.

Components:

• Case: Case is the first thing one should keep in mind as the case describes the Motherboard form factor and the SMPS(Power Supply Unit). A case should be well ventilated as long hours of gaming may take the temperatures to as high as 90 C. Take a case with at least two fans as the heat will also degrade the PC’s performance. Cases range from Rs 500 to Rs 20,000. Some well known manufacturing companies are Cooler Master, iBall, Thermal take and others. Choose the best considering the upper points which fits your budget.
• Processor: Processor is the unit which is more important that the GPU (Graphics card). The more powerful the processor the better gaming experience. The Processors are manufactured by two leading companies Intel and AMD. Check out the processor with best performance in your budget. Make sure it’s socket is compatible with your Motherboard. Also the thing that most people confuse with. AMD’s motherboard are different from Intel’s motherboard. A motherboard ment for using with AMD processor won’t fit an Intel Processor.
• Motherboard: This is the main component as all the hardware you are gonna buy is ultimately getting fit into this board. Choose the board with atleast 1 PCIe Express 2.0 slot(For 1GPU) and supports your processor. You an opt for more than 1 Slots if you want to crosfire two GPUs. Also check what memory modules would your motherboard support. Most gaming motherboards are made by Asus, Gigabyte, MSI & Biostar.
• RAM: Most games today(I am not talking about solitaire) spit on 1GB Ram. Check the speed, module your motherboard supports and buy Ram accordingly. Minimum recommended ram for a gaming pc is 2GB. Maximum can be taken to anywhere like my friend from Germany has 16GB Ram installed which even laughs at my 4GB. Ram’s come in different varities according to their clock speed and other factors. Most gamers use Rams by OCZ, Gskill, Silicon power or other but we can work it out with cheap one like kingston.
• GPU: GPU aka The Video Card is the life of the gaming PC. Video Cards range from Rs 1000 to Rs 40000. And SLI(Nvidia) or crosfire(ATI) costs even more. Check out the GPU which has a good performance with a PCI 2.0 Support, Latest DirectX 10 or 11 support, DDR3 or above memory type, and other features which suits your need. The GPU I used was MSI ATI Radeon 4850 1GB OC Edition which cost me Rs12000 1 month after its launch. You can also install 2 or more GPU according to your Mot herboard and SMPS. The best chipsets are available from ATI and Nvidia and the manufacturers are MSI, Asus, Palit, Sapphire etc.
• Display: Choose a monitor with a bigger screen for better experience and a high resolution. Check out the monitors refresh rate, response rate and others. Get a screen of about 20″ or you could also attach the LCD or Plasma with HDMI port of your GPU.
• SMPS: SMPS is the power supply unit of your CPU. Choose a SMPS which meets minimum requirement of your GPU and supports its connectors. i recommend to buy this from a branded company as it handles all the responsibility of saving your PC from the voltage fluctuations or other shit. Major producers are Coolermaster, Zebronics, Targus & others.
• HDD: Get a good Hard Disk with enough storage space to meet your future requirements. I recommend minimum 500GBs as games can be as large as 20GB. Get hard disks from Seagate, Western Digital and samsung.

Additional Items:

• FANS: Choose some extra fan as they are often cheap and will give your PC a long life.
• Sound Cards: For people who are just crazy about sound quality pick up a Sound card but they are too expensive.
• Disk Drive: They can be bought according to your wish.
• Keyboard and mouse: Keyboard and mouse have a different category for gaming. There are many types available but they aren’t cheap.

My Gaming PC Configuration:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.8GHZ

Motherboard: A crapy one Intel DG31 something

HDD: 500 GB WD

GPU: MSI ATI Radeon 4850 1 GB OC Edition

RAM: 4 GB kingston.

Display: LG 19″ LCD

Case: I ball something.

Please excuse for any mistake as I am not used for writing long article. Drop a comment in the post if you have any question.

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Tagged as: assemble, configure, Configuring PC, Gaming, PC, tutorial